


A Daughter's Gift

by Angelmarya24



Series: A Baker's Flower [2]
Category: Lucas Baker - Fandom, Resident Evil 7 - Fandom
Genre: F/M, Family, Lucas as a father, Possession by a bio-weapon, adorable grandfather-granddaughter bonding
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-21
Updated: 2017-08-21
Packaged: 2018-12-18 11:00:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11872965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angelmarya24/pseuds/Angelmarya24
Summary: Lucas and Chrys Baker are enjoying life as husband and wife along with their children, including the newest additions, Bella and Evan. On the surface, everything seems perfect but underneath that there is an old evil threatening to once again ruin the Bakers' life. Lucas would do anything to protect his family but what would he do if one of them were the danger?





	1. Dinner and Arguments

Bella Baker was sitting on her grandfather’s lap while the family ate their dinner with moderate conversation. Like they did every sunday night, her family was eating dinner next door at her grandparent’s house. Sitting across from her, in between discussing his work day, her father was making faces at her in an attempt to make her laugh, which wasn’t having any effect whatsoever.

   “Bella, eat your dinner, Honey.” Her mother told her. Around the table the eyes of her grandparents, Jack and Marguerite, and her parents, Lucas and Chrys, all exchanged looks of frustration and worry. At the same time, Bella’s brothers and sister were finishing their own plates of food so they could return to playing their videos games; even her one year old brother Evan had inhaled his bowl of mashed carrots in record time.

   “I don’t like it.” Bella complained and then twisted herself to hide her face in Jack’s chest. The four adults at the table stared at her with growing frustration. It was common knowledge amongst them that Bella was fussy when it came to food, specifically onions, but Marguerite had hoped her granddaughter wouldn’t have been able to taste it in the casserole she made. It turns out she was very wrong about that.

   “Bella stop being ridiculous an’ just eat your food.” Her father scolded her in an unusual voice for talking to his precious baby girl. It was just one example of how Lucas was becoming more and more like his father everyday, something which did not go unnoticed by his wife, mother and sister, Zoe.

   “No!” Bella cried in a muffled scream and grabbed onto the strong fabric of her grandfather’s new green golf shirt. Jack tried to pull her face away from him but she held on tight with a surprisingly strong grip.

   “You can either let go of me and eat your supper or I’ll make you.” Jack warned which immediately made Lucas and Chrys nervous. They both were afraid of what Jack might do if he became angry enough at her.

   “I don’t like the onions, they’re gross!” The little girl screamed, now looking up at him. In the future, when thinking back on what was about to happen, Bella never again complained about any food that was put in front of her.

   “Now listen here little girl, your grandmother worked hard to cook this casserole and you’re gonna damn well eat it! I don’t give a rat’s ass if there are onions in it!”

   By this point everyone in the room was shaken and nervous about what would happen next. Even Thorin, Kili, Tobias and Celes, who had retreated to the living room, stopped what they were doing in fear of making noise. Finally, Lucas found the courage to speak up.

   “Alright Dad, maybe you should calm down a bit.” He said. Jack looked up at his son and shot him a dangerous look.

   “Well maybe you should have raised her better so that she respects the things that people do for her!” The old man bellowed across the table at Lucas, who was now getting frustrated with his father. After hearing what her grandfather said about her, Bella began to cry and frantically try to get away from him but he had a firm grip on her right arm.

   “Grandpa let go!” She screamed while beating at his chest with her free hand and trying to push away from him.

   “Leave her alone Jack, it’s not that big of a deal. Can’t you see you’re scaring her?” Marguerite begged her husband, but he wasn’t listening. Having had enough of the scene, Lucas charged over to the other side of the table and pulled Bella from his father’s grip. He lifted her up into his arm and sat her on his hip, hugging her close.

   “You don’t ever touch her or any of my kids again, you hear me?” He shot at Jack and then looked towards his children who were watching in fear from the living room. “Kids, c’mon we’re leaving.” He called to them and it wasn’t five seconds later that the four of them were racing out the door and across the hall to leave through the garage. Chrys,who had remained seated and relatively calm throughout the fight in case they needed a voice of reason, had gotten to her feet and was slowly letting their bubbly baby boy out of his high chair and wrapping him in his favourite blanket as Marguerite watched. The two women, mother and daughter-in-law, made eye contact and gave each other looks that they both understood to mean ‘I’ll calm my husband down and this’ll hopefully be over by tomorrow afternoon’. Lucas and Jack, on the other hand, exchanged looks of ‘I dare you to try and fight me’, which Chrys took as a cue to drag her husband out of the room before an even bigger fight broke out, even though she regretted not being able to stay and help clean up.

   Not wanting to look at her husband, Marguerite got up from the table and began collected the dirty plates to take them over to the sink in the kitchen. She didn’t bother with putting away any leftovers and instead tossed any and all extra food in the garbage can. She knew it would be one of those nights where not much would be said between her and her husband and it would most likely end with him drinking and passing out on the couch. She was surprised to find him still sitting there when she returned to the dining room to wash the table but had no urge to talk to him at all.

   “I know y’want to say something, so just get it out already.” Jack said tiredly as she was finishing, hoping to get the inevitable “you shouldn’t have done that, now go apologize” talk out of the way.

   Marguerite just stared at him for moment.

   And then she let loose all of her fury on him.

   

   “That bastard! I would’ve kick his ass if I wasn’t holding Bella.” Lucas growled as he paced the floor of their bedroom. The kids had all been put to bed, including Bella after her parents had managed to calm her down and assure her that everything would be in fine in the morning and that Jack wouldn’t be mad at her anymore. Not only that, but she also demanded that Lucas read her “The Pokey Little Puppy” for the millionth time; he had read it to her so many times throughout her short life that he probably could have recited it off memory. Now an hour later and Chrys, who was laying on the bed in her pyjamas and reading, put down her book and watched her husband walk back and forth.

   “Yeah, I know, that’s why I got us out of there.” She replied to his frustration in a flat tone.

   “Poor Bella, probably will be scared of him for life now.” He muttered under his breath, although not too quiet so that Chrys didn’t hear him.

   “I hope not. Despite his easily triggerable anger your father loves her.” She pointed out.

   “I think something about her reminds him of Eveline.” Lucas said nonchalantly, staring into space. Shocked by the comment, Chrys just laid there not knowing what to say at first but then .

   “What the hell are you talking about, Lucas? How could she remind him of that little bitch? In case you haven’t noticed, our daughter isn’t some lab-made science fair project gone wrong.”

   “I know that Chrys, but have you ever thought about when you became pregnant with ‘er?”

   “What’s that got to do with it?” She snapped at him, her temper rising at a dangerous pace. How dare he suggest their daughter was anything like that monster. “You were already cured by that point, so what’s the big deal?” Chrys argued. She thought back to the night when she had returned to the Baker mansion years after Lucas had broken up with her to keep her safe from Eveline and the rest of his family. That night in the barn they had started the construction of a road that would lead to the birth of their little girl and it was this timing that worried Lucas. The mold infection that Eveline had taken over the Baker family with had been taken out of Lucas but what worried him was the idea that Chrys might’ve been infected at the time. He was nervous to bring the possibility into the conversation but he knew he needed to for his peace of mind.

   “What if you Infected then? Even a little bit, it could’ve affected Bella.”

   “So you think our daughter is infected with the mold? Even if she was, how would that change how your father thinks of her?”

   “I don’t know Chrys, maybe...maybe I’m just paranoid and convinced that our run of good luck could end any minute now.” Lucas sighed and dropped to sit on the edge of the bed, putting his head into his hands. At the sight of him looking defeated, Chrys began to calm down and forget her anger; she shuffled her body over to his side of the bed and, from behind him, wrapped her arms around his small and frail-as-ever body.

   Throughout their marriage, whenever Lucas had flashbacks to the time of Eveline reign, Chrys was always there to hold him during those moments of depression and difficult regrets until he felt some level of okay again. Yet of course, Lucas wasn’t about to admit that the thought of what he did in the past might affect him in the long run.

   There were days when he would go into the barn and, once he was in his little office, go through different camera feeds, torturing himself by remembering. He would switch the screen to the room where he once forced that guy named Hoffman and that cameraman, Clancy, to play a deadly card game ending in Hoffman’s death. All Lucas knew about the guy was that he had a wife and daughter, a little girl, like Lucas had now. More and more as the days went by he found himself thinking about what if something happened to him and how Bella would take it; what if the roles had been reversed? Looking back on it all, there was so much he wished he could take back.

   But sometimes there was a voice in the back of his mind that tried to convince him otherwise. Didn’t you enjoy it though? It’d ask and he had to admit that at the time he did. He had laughed when Clancy was burning alive in the Birthday Room, he had taken joy in the collection of times he’d cause others physical and emotional pain and hadn’t he tried to forget Chrys by kidnapping other girls? Each time concluded with him realizing that they weren’t her and then would drag them off for his father to do whatever with them. God only knows what Jack had with them afterwards.

   Keeping him in her arms, Chrys gently pulled him down so that the top half of his body was lying the on the bed with her. Knowing what was coming, Lucas swung his legs up onto the end of the bed and flipped over to face his wife, putting his lips onto her’s. He wasted no time in pulling off her pyjama shirt and pants as she fumbled with his belt.

   All he could think of to himself was how much needed her and her love.

   Then, as if on cue, Evan began crying from down the hall.

   “Really?” Lucas shouted and was immediately shushed by Chrys.

   “Hey now, don’t wake up the rest of the kids.” She said. “Now go check on him.” Then she pushed him off of her and rolled over to her side, drawing a blanket over her.

   “Oh alright, but don’t you fall asleep on me before I get back, Lil Missy May.”

   “Hurry up then, Lover Boy.” She teased before pulling the covers over her head and curling into a ball.

    Shaking his head, Lucas left the room and made his way to the nursery. Once there, he noticed that Evan was no longer screaming and crying but was instead squirming in his crib.

   “What’s up Bud?” He asked as he picked his son up to cradle him in his arms. “What’s wrong? You just didn’t want Mommy and Daddy to have some fun?”

   As if he understood, Evan began giggling and nodding his head. Lucas then decided that since he was there he would go through his mental checklist of things that might’ve caused the baby to cry and check each one but in the end concluded that it must have been Evan simply wanting attention. After putting his son back in his crib and turning on the spinning mobile with stars that lit up,(which was Evan’s favourite toy) Lucas quietly made his way to the door of the room. After flipping the lightswitch to off, he looked back and smiled at the sight of his son being mesmerized by the stars and giggling at them. A minute later Lucas finally tore himself away from the room and was closing the door when he heard another one creaking open from behind him.

   “Daddy?” A quiet voice called for him. Lucas turned around to see Celes standing in the doorway of the room she shared with Bella, looking scared.

   “What is it, Pumpkin? You should be asleep.” He told her as he walked over to her and kneeled down so they were eye-to-eye. He noticed right away that something must have been upsetting her.

   “Daddy, t-there’s something wrong.” She sputtered, tears filling up in her eyes.

   “What is it, Hon? You can tell Daddy, I’ll make it better.” He offered in hopes of calming her down.

   “She’s gone, Daddy.”

   “Who’s gone?”

   Celes swallowed hard before answering.

   “Bella. She’s gone and I don’t know she went. I’m sorry Daddy, I couldn’t stop her!” She cried before flailing herself into his arms and wetting the sleeve of his shirt with her tears.

    “It’s okay Baby, there’s nothing to be sorry about. Don’t you worry, we’ll find her, you just go on back to bed now.” He told her and the carried her back into the room and laid her down on her bed. After tucking her in and kissing her forehead for the second time that night, Lucas quickly made his way back to his own room to break the news to Chrys.

   “Chrys! Wake up!” He said in a loud and rough whisper to avoid waking any other child in the house. To his disappointment, she continued to snore.

   “C’mon Chrys, get up!” He tried again, this time gave her a shake.

   “What?” She screamed, not realizing how loud she was, “Do you really want sex that badly?”

   “It ain’t that, Chrys. It’s Bella…she’s gone.”


	2. The Ghost in the Woods

  “What do you mean she's gone?” Chrys asked fearfully. “That doesn’t sound like our Bella.” She was desperately trying to think up reasons for why what her husband had just told her had to be a lie but she knew it wasn’t. The warm blanket that was covering her body had fallen away to expose her chest to the coldness of the room; normally Lucas would have been entranced by his wife’s assets, but Bella missing seemed to have a higher control over his mind as he was completely oblivious to the naked beauty in front of him. In that moment, he was solely focused on the disappearance of his little girl.

   “She’s also never been yelled at by her grandfather like that before.” He reminded her. “Dad’s her favourite...at least he was before supper tonight. I’m gonna head over now t’wake Mom and Dad so they can help us look for her, an’ maybe I’ll find her sittin’ outside on the way over. Hopefully, anyway.”

   “We can only hope.” Chrys sighed and got up off the bed. “Go on, I’ll get some clothes on and meet you over there.”

   Lucas nodded and swiftly left the room. Before making his way downstairs, he quickly toured around the upstairs hallway, checking each of the kids’ rooms to make sure the rest of their children were still asleep in their beds. Checking Celes and Bella’s room last, he found his oldest daughter holding her favourite teddy bear tight in her arms and talking to it. As much as he wanted to go in the room and comfort her, Lucas knew the only way to make her feel better would be to bring her sister back safe and sound, so he quietly backed out, silently closed the door and returned to his plan of recruiting his parents for the search. He hurried down the stairs distracted by his worry, which almost made him trip and fall but he caught himself before it was too late.

   While passing through the kitchen, Lucas thought he could feel a draft coming from somewhere and, while he classified it as weird, it wasn’t top priority for that moment. Instead he ignored it and carried on towards the back door. He turned the corner into the back hallway and stopped abruptly; suddenly the draft made sense.

   The door was open wide.

   “Oh shit.” He cussed and ran outside.

 

   Outside, he trudged through the swampy earth towards the house he once lived in. Shortly after Chrys and her four children had moved in with him in the old guest house, there had been a group effort to create a clear and shorter path between the two houses. The path, which started in Lucas’ backyard, was a straight line that led to the courtyard behind the grand mansion. Thankfully, the shortcut made his trek to wake Jack and Marguerite shorter which might’ve been saving him some precious time.

   Lucas made his way into the courtyard and darted for the back door while hoping it would be unlocked; he wasn’t sure if his parents locked it at night, in fact, he couldn’t remember them ever locking it except when trying to keep victims in during the Evelyn Era. Lucas found himself thinking back to when he had created the dog head relief lock as a younger teen; he wanted to test his skills with making a complicated lock and at the same time couldn't get over how much cooler it'd be because, duh, what's cooler than a lock that only activates when a metal dog head is removed from the door? A nineteen year old Lucas would have told you that nothing is. The question was: did his parents use it anymore?

    A smile curled his lips when he found the entrance unlocked. A minute later he was in the main hall and running up the staircase, two steps at a time. A couple feet away from the top of the stairs was Jack and Marguerite’s bedroom; Lucas stalked over to it and knocked hard on the wood; from inside came a manly tired moan.

    “Wake up!” He yelled to the door. There was a rustling sound coming the other side and a minute later Jack Baker was standing there wearing only a pair of worn and dirt stained light blue pyjama pants. He didn’t look happy.

   “What in the hell are you doing, waking us up in the middle of the goddamn night?” He growled at his son.

   “I need y’all’s help. Bella’s gone missing.” At the news, Jack’s face remained emotionless.

   “Bella’s missing?” Marguerite echoed from inside the room.

   “Yeah, Celes came to me crying and said she wasn’t in her bed. I went downstairs and the front door was open. She could be anywhere by now.” He told them solemnly, his voice beginning to crack and fighting back waterworks in his eyes. Marguerite appeared beside her husband and was donning a thin pink nightgown, worry in her eyes.

   “Oh my dear.” She said softly. “Give us a minute to get dressed and we’ll help you look for her.”

   “Alright. Chrys is getting ready too, I’ll go walk the yard and-”

   “Now hold on a minute.” Jack interrupted. “I’m pretty sure that girl ain’t gonna wanna see me right about now. She’s probably running ‘cause she feels bad for how she acted.”

   “Well maybe you should’ve left her alone and not hurt her!” Lucas yelled in his father’s face.

   “I didn’t do a thing to hurt ‘er.” The older man stated plainly in a calm voice. “Go if you want, I’m heading back to bed.”

   “Like hell you are!” His wife raised her voice at him, which was unusual for her calm motherly nature. “You’re going out there and helping look for her! You owe her that.”

   “Look Honey, I don’t think-”

   “Now, Jack.”

   Lucas almost snickered at hearing his mother bossing Jack around but held it in case it’d further set the old man against searching for Bella. Instead, he nodded to Marguerite and hurried down the staircase and crossed the main hall out into the backyard.

   Chrys was standing by the trailer, now dressed in a pair of oversized blue sweatpants and Lucas’ old Louisiana Cow Sharks hoodie which she had long since claimed as her own. Lucas rushed down the creaking wooden steps and met his wife halfway.

   “She hasn’t shown up yet, has she?” He asked, doubt in his voice.

   “No, no sign of her.” Chrys began to cry as she spoke; she began rubbing tears from her eyes with her sleeves. Lucas pulled her close to him and covered the back of her head with a loving hand.

   “Don’t worry Babe, we’ll find her.” He assured her in an effort to sound as convincing as possible. Lucas never believed in God like his parents did, yet he found himself praying to something for his little girl to be safe.

   Finally, a few minutes later, Jack and Marguerite made their entrance; Jack with a scowl on his face.

   “Let’s get this over with.” He grumbled.

   They decided to first search the part of the woods which led to the old mines since Lucas knew it so well. The previously silent night was now full of three different voices shouting “Bella!” and one voice mumbling it under his breath. After almost ten minutes of searching, Jack grew painfully frustrated.

   “This ain’t gon’ work!” He complained.

   “Maybe we should split up.” Chrys suggested. Lucas nodded in agreement.

   “Yeah, we could cover more ground. I can go toward the mines, check’em and see if she went in there. Mama, why don’t you go that way?” He pointed to his left. “Dad, that way.” He pointed to his right. “And Chrys-”

   “I wanna check back at the house, in case she went back.”

   “Alright, sounds good.” He answered. “Holler if any of yus find her.”

   Then they separated to each of their search areas.

 

   Jack cursed as he made his way through fallen down trees and short walls of brush. As much as he did care for Bella’s wellbeing, his outer emotional shell was still bitter and angry about the situation. Wasn’t she just overreacting? Running away the first time she gets yelled at, yes, she was just overreacting.

   “Bella, where are you? It’s the middle of the night, we should all be in bed.” He talked out loud in hopes of maybe her hearing him. At first there wasn’t any noise he could hear.

   And then there was crying.

   “Bella!” Jack yelled; he wasn't sure it was her but, then again, who else was crazy or upset enough to be out in the woods in the middle of the night?

   He did his best to follow the sound of the cries which ended in success. It led him to a tree which had been broken off halfway from the top; the base was hollowed out, most likely by an animal, to make the perfect hiding spot for a small child. He approached the hole, crouching to get a good look inside, and sighed a sigh of relief when he saw Bella huddled inside with her knees pulled to her chest.

   “There you are.” He said, a lot calmer than he was feeling few minutes ago; seeing her scared face loosened his anger a bit. “Come on out Honey, everybody’s worried about you.”

   Her only response was turning her body even more away from him.

   “Bella.” Her grandfather repeated, even more lovingly, hoping it might make her feel better towards him, and then stretched a hand out towards her. He only managed to brush the short sleeve of her pyjama top, resulting in Bella screaming.

   “Hey, it’s okay, I ain’t gonna hurt you. Please don’t be scared of me.” Jack begged as he realized how much it hurt his heart to know his grandbaby was afraid of him. “I’m sorry I yelled at you, I didn’t mean it,honestly.”

   Bella communicated a “no” with a shake of her head. Jack breathed heavily and sat down on the wet dirt in front of the tree, not taking his eyes off his granddaughter. It occurred to him that the plan had been to alert the others if he found her but he decided to make this right on his own.

   Through his clouded thoughts, the sound of a child’s energetic laughter came from behind him. He got excited for a moment when he thought it was coming from Bella but quickly realized it was too high a pitch to be her’s. That and he hadn't taken his eyes off of her and the only movement she made was from breathing, not laughing. Slowly, he turned around and fought back a scream.

   Standing there with a viscious grin on her lips was Eveline.

   Jack was frozen in fear. This couldn't be happening.

   “You ain’t real! You’re dead! I know you did!” He screamed. “Leave us alone.”

  “Heehee.” The bioweapon squealed and ran off through the trees. It was hard to tell if she had disappeared or simply hidden herself from him amongst the trees; either way, he didn’t trust what he saw. There was no way it had actually been the real Eveline; had Ethan not killed her? That's what those people had told Lucas when they came and cleaned up the lab in the mines.

   “N-no.” Bella whined from inside her hiding hole. “Go ‘way. Leave me alone.”

   “Baby, what’s wrong?” At first he thought she had fallen asleep and was dreaming but her wide open eyes told a different story.

    “Grampa?”

    “I’m here Darling, I’m here.” He soothed her and reached out a hand into the tree.

   “Make her go away. I don’t like her.” She whimpered.

   “Don’t worry, she’s gone now.”

   “She’s in my head, Grampa, says we have to share it now. Make her go away!”

   Finally, Bella shifted herself a little closer to Jack and allowed him to pull her out of the hollow. He stood up and cradled the little girl in his arms; he wanted her to feel secure more than anything and then get her back home.

   “You’re alright, you’re okay.” He repeated multiple times as he slowly rocked her to what he hoped would be a peaceful sleep. From another part of the woods came Lucas’ voice calling for his daughter; Jack knew he probably should yell out that he found her but didn’t want to risk disturbing her. Instead, with Bella safe in his arms, he begin to reverse the path he took to reach the tree thinking that he might end up running into Lucas, Chrys or his wife.

   Then there was the decision that needed to be made about whether or not he would mention seeing Eveline to the rest of his family. He was trying to convince himself that it was only lack of sleep causing him to see things, but then why had Bella been crying about getting a “her” out of her head? And what had she meant by sharing it? It could have been a one-time occurrence which meant there was nothing to worry about; he wouldn’t mention it and it would go away.

   The five minute journey back to the meeting spot was uneventful which, by this point, Jack was grateful for. When he stepped over the last fallen tree, he immediately saw the three other members of the search party standing there with defeated expressions.

   Until they saw Jack holding Bella.

   “You found her!” Chrys screamed and ran to take her daughter from him. Lucas was close behind with his arms ready to hug both his girls, mouthing a thank you to his father before showering his sleeping little girl’s forehead with kisses.

    “You did good.” Marguerite smiled at Jack as approached him and hugged his broad chest. He said nothing but hugged her back and rested his chin on the top of her head, looking out into the woods across from them. For a split a second he thought he saw Eveline again but rapid blinking quickly dissolved any image of her in his mind.

   Was he going crazy again?


	3. Voices

    Breakfast the next morning was quiet after all the kids except Bella had gone off to start their morning adventures; Celes to paint seashells with her grandmother, Toby to search for worms with Jack for their upcoming fishing trip, and the twins to continuing digging the hole they had begun behind the greenhouse which hadn’t yet been discovered by any of the adults on the property. They didn’t really have a goal for this hole, other than to make it deep, but it gave them something to do that would be enough amusement for the two boys to last them a few hours at least.

    Meanwhile, Bella was picking at the pancakes and bacon on her plate which, any other day, she would have wolfed down in minutes. Her dazed eyes never left the table, staring at the wood as if it had her in a trance. Lucas and Chrys sat beside each other, across from their daughter, and watched her with worry. She hadn’t spoken a word to anyone since the night before and only gave a few nods or shakes of her head when asked anything. Lucas was reluctant to bring up the event of her running into the woods since he didn’t want her to be more upset than she clearly was, and he hated to see his little girl sad.

   Even if he had meant to bring it up, Bella suddenly pushed her chair away from the table and began sauntering out of the kitchen before he could say anything. Chrys looked down at her daughter’s still half-full plate and frowned.

   “Bella, are you sure you don’t want any more of your breakfast?” Chrys called to her. “Pancakes are your favourite!”

   The little girl mumbled something that sounded like “o anks” as she turned the corner and thudded up the stairs.

   “Something’s not right with her.” Lucas said, taking the initiative to state the obvious.

   “She hasn’t said a word all morning.” Chrys added. “I hope she doesn’t feel bad for making us go out in the middle of the night.”

   “Then why would she do it in the first place? It can’t be just because of what happened at supper.” Lucas remarked.

   “And why not?” Chrys asked, staring at her husband in disbelief.

   “Dad was staring at somethin’ in the woods las’ night.” Lucas responded, his eyes now staring off into space. “I caught him doing it just after he showed up with Bella.”  Saying this earned him a confused stare from his wife.

   “What does that have to do with anything?” She exclaimed.

   “I dunno...maybe I’m just paranoid.”

   “You said that last night. You’re not still thinking about Eveline, aren’t you?”

   “I got a weird feeling, s’all. I’m gonna go talk to Dad before I head off for today’s jobs.” He said as he heaved himself up to his feet and planted a kiss on his wife’s forehead, tipping her chin up to do it.

   “Just don’t cause any mass hysteria in the family, and don’t electrocute yourself at work, please. I enjoy having a husband...most days.” She said with a smile, half teasing him.

   “Can’t make any promises for either of those things.” He laughed and then grabbed his toolbox which was sitting on the counter and made his way into the front hall. Chrys chuckled to herself as she listened to him drop down onto the bench at the front door and fumble with his shoes, trying to put them on. She knew he preferred shoes without laces, simply because of how much quicker they are to put on, but she had bought the pair of sneakers anyway because she thought they might’ve been better for work. It made her feel guilty knowing he only wore them to make her feel better about buying them for him.

   “There, finally!” Lucas groaned when he finished tying the laces. Happy with himself, he stood up from the bench and turn towards the door.

   “Brotherrr!” A familiar voice whispered enticingly, seemingly from behind him. Lucas whirled around to see...nothing.

   “What the hell!” He roared. Seconds later, Chrys came running into the hall.

   “What’s wrong Babe?”

   “I, uh, I just- I thought I heard something.” He told her, wiping his eyes with his hand.” I’m probably just tired or somethin’.”

   “Are you sure?”

   “Yeah Hon, I’m fine. See ya later.” He blabbered and darted out the door, leaving her standing there and worried for him..

  

   Alone in her room, Bella had cocooned herself in multiple layers of blankets and was trying desperately to fall asleep. Yet as tired as she was, she was also terrified to close her eyes.

   “We’re not done yet.” Eveline’s voice snarled inside Bella’s mind. It was the second time that morning, the other waking her up, that the voice had called to her.

   “Go away! Leave me alone.” Bella cried back at her.

   “No! We got work to do.”

   “What do you want from me?”

   “Your precious mommy and daddy don’t deserve their happy little family. It was supposed to be mine! Now you’re gonna help me get back at what’s mine.”

   “I won’t!” Bella screamed out loud by accident; she had only meant to say it in her head.

   Celes, who had been silently standing by her sister’s bed for a few minutes now watching Bella writhe under the blankets, ran out of the room to find her mother.

 

   A looming feeling of uneasiness hung over everyone for the rest of the day; even Chrys and Marguerite’s afternoon coffee felt a bit off. Celes seemed to be lonely without Bella to play with and the three boys spent all day outside and away from the gloom inside the house; because of this, there was nothing but silence throughout the house and it starting to get to Chrys. The only happy person in the house seemed to be be Evan who was enjoying bouncing on his mother’s knee.

    “You feel it too, don’t you?” Marguerite asked her daughter-in-law when she was finally sick of the ten minute silence they had just endured.

   “We’re just tired is all. It was a long night last night.” Chrys reasoned, trying to convince herself it was the truth.

   “Jack has been talking to himself all day, Celes comes to you saying Bella was crying to someone when no one was around her, and, you said Lucas thought he heard a voice. Something’s going on Chrys and it’s just like all those years ago.”

   “Don’t say that.”

   “Chrys.” Marguerite warned as gentle as possible while still insinuating that Chrys was being ridiculous.

   “She’s dead, Marguerite! What this is isn’t Eveline coming back to torture us again.” Hearing Eveline’s name made the older woman wince as if they were in a Harry Potter book and Chrys had just said Voldemort’s name.

   “Look, I agree that it doesn’t make complete sense. All I’m saying is that it feels the same as before.”

    “Not like I’d know, right?” Chrys snapped, not considering how much it might upset her in-law.

    “Oh Chrys, please don’t be like that. None of us chose what happened and it affected all of us.”

   Chrys just shook her head and downed what was left of her coffee, ending the conversation with more silence. They sat like that at the kitchen table for a while until they heard the squeaky opening of the front door following by a tired grunt which meant Lucas was home from work.

   “Hey Mama, hey Chrys.” He exclaimed as he walked in the room, dropped his tool belt by the door and went to the counter to help himself to a cup of coffee, then he sat down beside his wife. Evan began squirming in Chrys’ arms trying to get his daddy’s attention; his small chubby fist grabbed ahold of Lucas’ sleeve and yanked it closer to himself.

   “Da!” The little boy laughed.

   “Hey Buddy.” Lucas cooed and bopped his son lightly on the nose. “How was your day?”

   “Daaa.” Evan repeated and continued to stare at his father with a smile on his face. Lucas locked eyes with his wife and immediately understood her stressed look of “for God’s sake, please take him”, so he quickly reached for the boy and carried him over to his own knee, facing him.

   “So how’s everything been t’day?” Lucas asked.

   “Fine.” Chrys’ reply was monotone. “Other than Bella screaming at nothing.”

   “Shit.” He cussed. “I don’t like where this is going. I woulda been fine with the midnight outing, but this is just too weird.”

   “You’re all just overreacting.” Chrys argued. “I know you’ve all been through a lot and maybe that puts you on edge, but we can’t live like the worst possible thing is just around the corner.”

   Now it was Marguerite’s turn to shake her head. “I’d like to believe that, Cher, but-”

   “Mommy? Daddy?” Said Celes, who was now standing in the doorway with a worried look on her face. “ Can I ask you something?”    

   Lucas and Chrys exchanged nervous glances.

   “Uh, sure baby, what’s up?” Lucas responded.

   “Who’s Eveline?” She asked, causing all three adults at the table to feel uneasy.

   “W-where did you hear that name?”

   “Bella keeps saying it. Is that a bad thing?”

   “No Hon, it’s fine.” He assured her with a smile. “Is she still in your room?”

   “Yeah, she’s on her bed.” Celes answered and ran out of the room, apparently having had enough of the awkward feeling in the air.

   “I’ll go talk to her.” Lucas said immediately as he began passing Evan back over to Chrys, which the baby didn’t seem to like as he started to kick and make growling noises.

   “I can come with you-” Chrys started but was quickly cut off by Lucas. Reluctantly she took back her son and tried her best to calm him down by bouncing him on her knee again.

   “Nah, I gotta do this maself.” and then he left before she could say anymore.

   “He’ll do fine.” Marguerite tried to comfort her but they both knew that Lucas wasn’t the type to deal well with emotions, especially feminine ones.

   “I hope so.” Chrys sighed.

 

   “Hey Beautiful.” Lucas whispered to the lump of blankets laying on Bella’s bed; it was impossible to tell which part of her body he was looking at. “You awake?”

   “Mm-hmm.” Bella hummed in response.

   “You wanna talk?”

   “I don’t know if she’d like that. She doesn’t like you an’ Mommy.”

   “Wha’?” Lucas was lost for words for a moment, but he manage to compose himself. “Who? Is it Eveline? We can help you Bella, jus’ please talk t’me.”

   “It’s her.” She said vaguely. Lucas immediately noticed the blubbering in her voice and had no doubt that there were tears falling down her cheeks along with it. After a few heavy breaths, she continued, changing her voice into a whine. “It’s Evie, she’s in my head.” She wriggled herself out of her blanket cocoon to crawl onto her father’s lap. “She says she could hurt me if I don’t do what she tells me to.”

   “What does she want?”

   “I dunno, she only she said we’ve got work to do.”

   “Don’t listen t’her, she can’t hurt you none, trust me.” He said, trying to sound confident but fell a bit short. It worried him how scared she seemed of Eveline, too scared to even call her by name.

   “She can make my head hurt.”

   Lucas didn’t know what else to say or do so he just simply held her tight to his chest in hopes of making her feel any amount of security. They stayed like that for a while until Lucas heard a soft snoring which meant Bella had fallen asleep. Still not wanting to leave her, he managed to lay himself down on the bed, deciding he could deal with sleeping on his side instead of preferably on his back, while still wrapping his arms around her small body. It wasn’t long after that that Lucas found himself drifting off and he just allowed sleep to take him.

 

   In the evening, when supper time came around, Chrys went upstairs and found the two of them fast asleep; she was tempted to leave them be, but it was the not wanting to have to deal with a hungry Lucas later on that helped her decide to wake them up, starting with her husband.

   “Hey Lucas, wake up.” She whispered as she gently pushed on his shoulder. Slowly he opened his eyes and began blinking them.

   “What’ time id it?” Lucas asked in a half-awake slur.

   “Almost 6:30. Supper’s just about to be ready too.”

   “Mm-kay. I’ll wake up this one and we’ll be right down.”

   Chrys nodded and left the room, yelling down the hall to call the boys to supper. Lucas thought she might’ve woken up Bella but of course not, Bella could sleep through anything and was known for sleeping in longer than anyone else in the house. He knew he’d have to wake her himself.

   “It’s time for supper, Bella, ya gotta get up.” He said, lightly shaking her like Chrys had just done to him.

   “Uhhhh.” She moaned. Her bed was too comfortable for her to want to get up from it.

   “C’mon Baby Girl, let’s go eat.” He chuckled and lifted her off the bed and carried her out in his arms, tickling her side just a little bit; Bella woke up enough to start giggling and then laughing wildly. At that moment, it was the most beautiful sound Lucas ever heard.


	4. Friends

    Months passed without another word from Eveline; while her parents sometimes found themselves thinking about their daughter’s “roommate” every so often, the subject of Eveline never once crossed Bella’s mind. It was only a couple days  after that talk with her daddy that Bella was back to her normal self, playing with Celes and smiling all the time, much to the relief of the adults around her.

   Finally, August came in Louisiana  and that meant the beginning of school for Toby and Celes, and the first day of Kindergarten for Kili and Thorin. This also meant that Bella would be without a playmate for most of the week days, a fact that worried Lucas and Chrys. She stood at the top of the driveway holding hands with her mother who had Evan sitting on her hip and watched her siblings get on a big yellow bus which the little girl silently feared a small bit. Bella tried to hide how upset she was, but an accidental snuffle gave her away. Chrys looked at her youngest daughter and gave her hand a light squeeze.

   “It’ll be fine, Sweetie.” Chrys assured her, adding a pat on the head and a smile. “A few hours and you’ll find yourself so busy with something that you’ll forget your partner in crime is even gone.”

   Bella thought for a moment about what her mother had just said.

   “When will Daddy be home?” She asked. Evan got excited at the mention of  his daddy and was clapping his hands together like a seal who was being given a treat.

   “Probably not ‘til this evening.”

   “Is Papa doing anything?”

   “I’m not sure, you’ll have to go find him and see.”

   “On it!” Bella cried happily and took off running down the dirt path towards the Baker mansion. Behind her, Chrys laughed at her daughter’s energy; it was such a relief to see her so full of life, to see any of her new family full life, really. Starting off at a walk, she began following Bella, figuring she’d go and see what her mother-in-law was up to. Suddenly, Evan started giggling and playing with his mother’s long waves of hair.

   “What’dya think Bud? Should we go see what Grandma’s doing?” She cooed at him.

   “Gra-ma! Gra-ma!” He squealed excitedly.

   Chrys laughed “Alright then, let’s go.”

 

   “Morning Mama!” Chrys called from the front door, loud enough for Marguerite to hear from the kitchen. She kicked off her sneakers and made her way down the hall, noticing a delicious scent as she did.

   “Hi dear! Come on in, I’ve just finished making some chocolate chip cookies.”

   “You’re starting early today.” Chrys joked as she and Evan entered the kitchen. “Not even ten o’clock yet and you’re already at it. Smells amazing though.”

   “Oh Jack’s been craving ‘em. Haven’t been able to get him to stop askin’ for some and I was a little bored anyway.” Marguerite explained.

   “You? Bored? I never knew that was possible! Especially with all the other million things you’re always doing around here.”

   “A housewife’s job is never done.”

   “You got that right.” Chrys groaned. “How ‘bout taking a break and sitting down for chat? God knows, you probably need it.”

   “Well I was going to start a load of laundry but I guess it can wait.” The older woman said. Taking off her apron and setting it on the counter, she followed her daughter-in-law into the dining room and sat down in what was usually Jack’s chair. Evan, who had been placed on the floor to play with his favourite toy car, immediately began begging to be held by his grandmother; he held out his chubby hands, opening and closing them to get her attention and started yelling “Gra-ma”. With a laugh, Marguerite gave in and pulled him up onto her lap.

   “And how’s my little baby boy this morning?”

   “Well he’s already flung some cheerios at his sister and got apple sauce all over his father’s toolbelt, so he’s in fine form already.”

   “Creating mischief, are you?” Marguerite asked, nuzzling her nose in behind his ear causing him to giggle adorably. Out of all the babies she had held in her life, including both Lucas and Zoe, Marguerite firmly believed that Evan was the cutest and wouldn’t draw out her deepest frustrations even when he misbehaved; something about the small tyke brought but nothing less than a smile to her face.

    While Marguerite was distracted by Evan, Chrys took a moment to check her phone. She almost bursted out with laughter at the sight on the screen; Lucas had sent her what was probably about twenty texts complaining about the people he’d been hired by that day.

 

    Dumb bitch just needed to fuckin’ press a button!

    And then her dog almost bit me!

   Then the next guy almost got me electrocuted! Dumbass!

   Dad would even know more about wires than this guy! And that’s fucking saying something!

   God, or whoever might be out there, help me… this next one is an old lady.

   Just kill me now

   Please

   She can’t even hear me.

   AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH I hate everything!

   Shit, Chrys, I think I need to bring back those Fuck You lists...might make me feel better…

   Sorry for the rant…love you, have a good day Babe

 

  As Chrys read each one, she could hear his voice plain as day in her head, in that complaining whiny drawl that always made her giggle, mostly because his overreacting was entertaining to witness. While reading the last couple texts Chrys glanced up for a quick second and out of the corner of her eye saw Bella standing by the archway that divided the kitchen and dining room. There was a look of disapointment on her face.

   “What’s wrong Bella Boo? I thought you were going to find Papa?” Chrys asked.

   “I can’t find him anywhere.” Bella moped.

   “Oh Honey, he’s gone out to the hardware store for a bit. He should be back relatively soon though.” Marguerite said. Bella let out a frustrated groan that made apparent that she wasn’t happy with what she had just been told; she stomped out of the room, loud enough that they could hear her all the way to the main hall. They also could hear some mumbling about going to find something to do on her own.

   “I’m worried about her.” Chrys confessed, breaking the silence that followed Bella’s leave.

   “Worried? What for?” Marguerite couldn’t believe what she had just heard.

   “She’s all alone now that Celes is gone to school and as cute as it is, Jack can’t be her playmate all the time until forever.”

   “Are you saying she should meet other kids her age? She’ll be starting kindergarten in a couple years anyway.”

   “But what if by then she doesn’t want to make friends ‘cause she thinks all she needs is Jack or Celes, or any of us really? I love her but she needs actual friends. Besides, getting out there will lower the chances of her ending up shy or scared of the world.”

   “Dear, it’s not exactly a Baker trait to be shy…”

   “I’m just saying! It could happen.”

   “Well don’t you send her to a daycare? You can relax more and she can meet other kids, then it all works out.”

   “Daycare? It’s not like I can’t take care of her so I have to give her away to someone else! That’s why Lucas works and I stay at home with the kids.”

   “You won’t be doing it because you have no where else to put her, you’ll be doing it so she can get out there and meet other kids. Jack and I can pay for it for goodness sake.”

   “No, I’d never ask you to do that. I’ll talk to Lucas about it and see what he thinks, but I dunno, I don’t wanna scare her.” Chrys said, her voice trailing off as she spoke.

   “Don’t worry, it could the best thing that ever happened to her.” Marguerite reasoned.

   “Maybe.”

 

   “Can I help?” Bella asked her grandfather. After an hour of trying to find something to do alone, and not being very successful at it, the little girl decided to try and find Jack again and see what he was doing. Seeing his car now parked in front of the house, she found him in the garage building a sidetable that would eventually become an anniversary gift for Lucas and Chrys. Crouching by the nearly finished piece, he looked up at her as she reached his side and smirked at her.

   “I dunno Sweetie, this might be a bit too much for ya.”

   “But you don’t look like you’re doing much of anything.” She stated, not being able to hide her confusion and brutal honest thoughts. It wasn’t unheard of for Bella to forget to think before she spoke, but by this point it was accepted by the family as cute so she almost always got away with whatever she said.

   “I’m trying to.” He laughed. “I guess if you really want to help, you can hand me stuff when I ask.”

   “Okay!.” Bella exclaimed and scooped up an armful of tools from the box beside the unfinished table. She held them up with a look of pride of her face; she was being helpful and that made her happy.

   “You silly girl, you.” He chuckled and blew her a kiss.

   Bella laughed. “No, you’re silly!”

   So she helped by handing him tools and telling him about the shopping trip her and her mom were on the day before; he realized that he much preferred having his granddaughter there to keep him company than to be by himself. When alone, Jack sometimes found himself thinking back to a time when he’d willingly mutilate a person with no remorse, so Bella’s presence was happily accepted. He was lost thinking about this when he noticed the little girl tapping him on the shoulder.

   “Papa?”

   “Yes Hon?”

   “Do you think I’ll ever make a friend? Besides you I mean, you’re my bestest friend.”

   Jack put down the drill he was holding and turned to face her. “Oh Sweetheart, of course you will. You’ll make a new best friend and you two’ll have so much fun doing everything together.”

   “What about you?  Would you still do things with me if I made another friend?”

   “Don’t worry about me, Darling, one day you won’t want to hang out with an old guy like me and that’s jus’ fine.”

   “No!” She cried, throwing her arms around his neck. “I won’t ever want that to happen!”

   “Oh Hon.” He soothed her in a hushed tone.

   “Finally, after calming down, the two returned to building the table. Bella dutifully handed to her grandfather each tool he asked for, although now she was silent. A sudden wave of sadness had hit her but she didn’t understand why; it was almost as if there was someone telling her to be sad and so she was. The odd feeling rapidly became a distraction for Bella; with each tool she handed over, more and more it wasn’t the one he asked for.

   “Bella, is something wrong?” Jack asked worriedly.

   “Uh, yeah, M’kay.” She mumbled, staring off to the ceiling.

   “Are you-” He started but couldn’t finish. Bella shook herself out of her daze and immediately began to cry. The hammer she had been holding was no longer in her hand, instead it was laying on the ground.

   On Jack’s slippered foot.

  “Shit!” He cursed. “Ah fu-”

  “I didn’t mean to! I didn’t! I’m sorry!” Bella cried to him. Scared of how angry he’d be with her, she darted out of the garage before Jack could say any more to her. She ran past the dining room doors, which did not go unheard by Chrys and Marguerite, and hurried to the front door.

   “What happened to her?” Chrys questioned, a bit more nonchalantly than she meant to.

   “Do we even want to know?” Marguerite responded. Just as the words left her lips, Jack came stomping up the stairs and into the room.

   “Where’d she go?” He asked them, obvious that he was trying hard to stay calm, yet failing at it.

   “I think you should tell us what you did to her, first off.” Chrys snapped at her father-in-law.

   “I didn’t do a thing to her! She dropped a hammer on ma damn foot!”

   “Oh come on, a hammer? It couldn’t have hurt that much.”

   “Well then maybe I’ll just throw one down on your foot and see how y’like it!”

   “Enough, both of you!” Marguerite roared, having had enough of the bickering already.

   In her frustration, Chrys jumped up from the table, pulled her son from his grandmother’s arms and stormed out of the dining room through the kitchen. Half a minute later, the slam of the front door seemed to shake the whole mansion. Finally alone with her husband, Marguerite shot Jack a death glare.

   “What? What’d I do?” He pleaded to know.

   “Get your ass over there and make that little girl feel better.” She ordered before also leaving the room. Afraid of what she might do to him if he didn’t, Jack Baker, grumbling to himself as he went, began making his way to find Bella.

 

   After having his afternoon jobs cancel on him, Lucas tore down the dirt path in his truck, eager to get home to spend an afternoon with his wife and two younger kids. He smirked to himself at the dust from the road flying in the air behind him, something that pleased the teenager that still lurked inside him. He also loved how excited Bella would get at the sight of him pulling up if she happened to playing outside at the time, which she wasn’t today.

   Instead, his father was standing on the front porch watching Lucas getting out of the truck.

   “Lookin’ for someone?” Lucas called to the older man.

   “Yeah, been told I need to talk to that girl of your’s.”

   Immediately, Lucas turned on his defensive father side. “What d’ya mean you need to talk t’her? What happened? Did ya hurt her? ‘Cause I swear y’all won’t get away with it this time.” He warned with a snarl.

   “I ain’t done nothing to her! Why does everyone keep thinking I hurt her?” Jack complained. “No, she dropped a hammer on ma foot and I got t’set it straight with her that I ain’t mad ‘bout it.”

   “Damn straight you better! You’ve hurt my little princess enough.”

   “You ain’t ever gonna get over that, are you?”

   “Ask me again tomorrow.” Lucas snorted, pushed past his father and into the house. He was met by Chrys at the entrance hallway.

   “Where’s Bella?” He asked hastily.

   “The living room, I managed to catch her before she made it to the stairs and convinced her to go sit on the couch instead.” Chrys told him. Responding with only a nod, Lucas made his way to living room to find his daughter sitting exactly where his wife had said with her blue eyes glued to the floor and knees tucked tight to her chest.

   “Hey Baby Girl, how’s it going?” It broke his heart to see the broken look on her face.

   “Not good, Daddy.” Her reply was honest and full of pain.

   “Why’s that, Sweetie?” He asked, plopping himself down on the leather beside her and pulling her onto his lap. “What’s buggin’ ya?”

   “I dropped a hammer on Papa’s foot.” She answered with a sweet innocence in her voice. Contrary to what she expected, Lucas broke out in laughter.

    “What’s so funny Daddy?”

   “Aw c’mon Babe, y’gotta admit that it sounds kinda funny, like the kinda thing you’d see in a cartoon.” At this, Bella began to giggle herself.

   “I guess it kinda does. Will Papa think so?”

   “I think we could convince him if he doesn’t.”

   As if on cue, Jack appeared at the door with a nervous look on his face.

   “Everything okay?” He asked.

   Sounding oddly grown up, Bella immediately responded.

   “Papa, you gotta see the hammer hittin’ your foot like a cartoon! It was funny, not bad.”

   “Is that so? I suppose I can see it like that, yeah I guess I do.”

   “That’s good! See? Nobody needs to be mad!”

   “You’re so cute, Princess.” Lucas commented, twirling a lock of her dirty blonde waves in his fingers. “Now why don’t we go an’ get some of them popsicles from the freezer an’ sit out on the swing outside?”

   “I call the last watermelon one!” Bella exclaimed as she took off towards the basement where the freezer was, leaving Lucas and Jack alone together.

   “Thanks for that.” Jack said.

   “I just don’t like t’see my babies upset. Don’t start thinkin’ I did it to settle what happened with you...that’s your problem t’fix.” Lucas told him coldly before charging past his father. Once alone, Jack shook his head and shrugged.

    “At least that’s a start.” He sighed.

   

   That night, after all persons under the age of ten were in bed, Chrys was sitting up in her own bed reading. The book in her hands was based on a horror video game series about a zombie virus outbreak; she hadn’t played the games herself but she had a feeling the games, which came first, were probably ten times better.

   She was flipping a page when Lucas came into the room, grumbling about something, and began to undress to put on some pajamas. As usual, he chose his favourite pair of ratty, holey and old plaid pajama pants that Chrys had so far failed to throw out without him finding out about it and retrieving them from the trash. She rolled her eyes while he changed with his back to her, giving her a wide view of his bare ass, which she had to admit was a pretty nice one. He knew she was staring at him and the two of them were turned on by the thought of each other, but he was too tired to have any fun tonight, which almost never happened. He ignored an urge calling from down below and pulled up the worn pants. Losing the show she was watching, Chrys returned to reading her book, but not before at least saying something to her husband.

   “How was your day?” She asked him. “I mean, other than the mess when you got home.”

   “Don’t even get me started.” He groaned.

   Once dressed, he went over to his side of the bed, the right side, and crashed down onto it. Chrys smiled as he slid closer to her and rested his head on her lap, forcing her to move her book hand over to the left a bit; her other hand found its way to the back of his neck and began slowly moving in a vertical motion. As she did this, the already a little too small for himpair of pants started to get tighter around the waist.

   “Babe we need to talk about something.” Chrys said suddenly, and just like that the tightness mostly disappeared. As tired as he was and as much as he wanted nothing more than to go to bed before, now he was almost hurt that she didn’t interested in pleasing his sexual urges.

   “What about? What’s wrong now?” He sounded impatient, although unintentional.

   “Your mother and I were talking…” She started, but apparently Lucas wasn’t able to contain himself from interrupting.

   “You should really stop doing that, you know. Some of the ideas you two come up with-”

   “Lucas?”

   “Yeah Babe, love of my life?”

   “Shut the hell up and listen to me for a minute.”

   “Aye aye captain! Carry on.”

   “Right. As I was saying, your mother and I were talking about Bella.” Then she paused and waited for a comment from Lucas but contiued when she realized he was, in fact, shutting the hell up and staring at her as she spoke. “We discussed that maybe Bella going to a daycare throughout the week.”

   “What the hell for? You’re home all the time and Dad and Mama can help out when I can’t.”

   “She needs to make friends, Lucas, she should meet some kids her age. The poor girl can’t spend her days either waiting for her sister to get home or bugging your father day after day.”

   Lucas seemed to think hard about the proposition. His icy eyes that were before fixed on Chrys were now set on his hands that were clasped together on his stomach; she couldn’t help but notice his fingers twitching from not having something to fiddle with, a habit he had developed long before he had ever met her. It was that, or he was terrified of Bella going to daycare, his little girl’s first time being without her parents or grandparents probably tore at his heartstrings..

   “I dunno Chrys, she’ll start school in a few years, ain’t that enough?”

   “What’s she gonna do ‘til then though?”

   “She’ll be fine, Hon! Y’all are all up in fuckin’ arms fer nothin’!” He yelled at her which earned him a light slap on the neck.

   “Watch it!” She snarled. “You’ll wake the kids. I didn’t want to argue about this, I just thought it’d be what’s best for her. I know you want that too.”

   Softening his anger, Lucas turned his head so that he was facing away from her. He shivered as she returned her fingers to massaging his neck, turning his urge back on.

   “You’re not mad at me, are you? For bringing it up?”

   “Nah, not really, but let’s say I am. Hypothetically.”

   “Why the hell would we do that?”

   “‘Cause I’m sure there’s a real easy way to make me feel over the fuckin’ moon right now.”

   “Are you asking me for sex?”

   “Well since you offered so kindly.” He grinned slyly.

   Smacking the book out of her hand and onto the floor, Lucas moved to position himself on top of her.

   “You’re a dick, you know that?” She teased, playfully trying to fight him off.

   “Well then I’m not the only one in the room that-” Chrys let him go and let him drop down flat on her.

   “Just shut up and love me already. We can talk about the daycare in the morning.”

   “Aye aye captain!”

 

   There was no conversation the following morning about Bella going to daycare. Naked as the day they were born, the husband and wife laid with their legs intertwined and his head halfway between her breasts. Chrys was awake before him and stayed there hoping it wouldn’t be the morning that the kids came charging in unannounced. The last thing she needed was for her children to be subjected to their parents naked, possibly scarring them for life. She lifted her head and glanced over at the alarm clock and saw that it was only six o’clock.

   “Thank God.” She groaned and dropped her head back down onto the bed, immediately falling back asleep. An hour later, a knock at the door woke the both of them up.

   “Mommy? Daddy? Are you up?” Celes’ voice called.

   “Yeah, almost anyway. We’ll down in a few minutes if you want to go sit in the kitchen.” Chrys answered, not hearing any footsteps walking away. Beside her, Lucas pulled his head away from her chest and immediately began rubbing his backside.

   “Damn babe, you done good last night.” He congratulated her.

   “Um, child at the door, be careful what you’re saying.” She scolded him in response, then got up from the bed and retrieved her bath robe from a hook on the inside of the closet door. “And yeah, I know I did.” She added afterwards.

 

 Twenty minutes later, everyone was sitting at the kitchen table and eating a breakfast of eggs and bacon, except for Kili who was allergic to eggs, he ate chocolate chip pancakes. They were all happily munching away when Chrys dared to bring up the topic of daycare again.

   “So,” She announced. “Bella, your daddy and I have decided to take you to a daycare.”

   Lucas and Bella immediately started talking over each other.

   “What’s daycare?” She asked.

   “I didn’t think we agreed on this yet.” He said, attempting to not sound annoyed in front of the kids.

   “If you want another night like last night to ever happen again, you damn well better not say no.” She growled in a whisper to him.

    “Damn you.” He cussed under his breath and leaned back into his chair, clearly looking defeated.

   “Alright, so Bella, daycare is a place where kids can go to spend the day, often when their parents have to go to work and can’t someone to look after them.” Chrys explained.

   “But you’re home all the time, you can look after me.”

   “That’s true, but wouldn’t you like to meet some other kids? You can make a friend! Doesn’t that sound like fun?”

   “It sounds like a lot of work.”

   “Bella!” Chrys scolded while Lucas snorted a laugh.

   “Well it does!” Bella protested.

   “Don’t worry ‘bout it Sweetie.” Lucas assured her. “Daddy’ll take ya into to town with ‘im and take ya in myself. It’ll be all okay.”

 

   That afternoon, Jack was sent into town to purchase a few groceries and also pick up Bella at the daycare. When he was first informed that she was spending the day there he was a bit suspicious of if she’d like it; the grin that stretched across her face when he met her at the door told him that he had thankfully been wrong.

   “Papa!” She squealed as she ran up into his arms and laughed as he swung her up and sat her on his hip.

   “Hey Baby Girl, you had a good day?”

   “It was the best! I made a friend, Papa, a friend!”

   “See, I told’ya you could make a friend.” He said, nuzzling her nose with his own. Out of the corner he spotted someone standing at the other end of the hall from them,near the door, but they quickly turned and walked out when Jack started to put his eyes on them. Something about what he managed to see of the person seemed familiar, but he couldn’t decide on how.

   “Something wrong, Papa?” Bella asked, noticing how he was staring off down the empty hallway.

   “Oh, it’s nothing Darlin’. How ‘bout we go home? Gotta pick up a few things first though.”

   “Sounds like fun!”

   

   “Mommy, I’m home!” Bella called from the front door.

   “In the kitchen, Bells!” Her mother called back to her.

   “Mommy, Mommy, I made a friend!” The little girl exclaimed as she came running into the room and saw her mother rolling out cookie dough on the counter. Chrys put down the rolling pin so that she could give her full attention to her daughter. She handed her a bit of leftover dough when she came up to the counter.

   “That’s awesome, Little Miss Bella, tell me about her.”

   “She has blonde hair and really pretty blue eyes.”

   “Oh yeah?”

   “Yeah! And her Mommy and Daddy work for really fancy science companies!”

   “That’s nice.” Chrys responded and returned to dealing with the cookie dough.

   “Oh and her name’s Emelia!”

   “Oh yeah? What’s her last name?” Her mother asked, almost absentmindedly with an attempt to show her daughter she was still interested in the new friend.

   “Winters, isn’t that so pretty, Mama?”


End file.
